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rriday, January ;s,^iV69

The Final Responsibility Is 3cotts

LACK-OF-PROGRESS REPORT TO THE WORLD!

during his administration. '

Though the state has a new administration, the new administration finds itself face<f with many of the old problems which have faced North Carolina for years. Perhaps the most urgent of these is de-

-r , . . , termining^ how the state will provide for alj its

with the adminL^raIive^tgff~tre^iooflcg-4o~belp~hixa--.-.yv^fl^ rUtymg-Jihi* npvt fmir years, and whether it

North Carolina has a new governor and a new administration at the head of its government.

Governor Robert Scott took the oath of office today, and with it assumed responsibility for the government of.the state. It is a responsibility he will share with the legislature, with the judiciary and

bperate the statesbiisinesF. Iir^spite of the fact he shares this awesome responsibihTy, with others^ he cannot escape it and ultimately he must assume final responsibility for all that is done or is not done

D

i^roperiy -1 ax -Na Big^ Burden

By WILLIAM A. SfflRES Reflector Ralei^ Bueran

RALEIGH - A great deal has been said and written lately about the property ta;c- and^-^much of it is con-' flicting and confusing. ^

But for the average North Carolina citizen who has just

gaid his annual property tax ill and is faced with listing

WILUAM

SHIRES

property for tax purposes again this month it all strikes homf-= - .

There are all sorts of questions being askedand var-ious answers being given.

For example:

Arc property taxes presently levied in North Carolina too heavy and burdensome?

Has the property tax reached the saturation point as an effective producer of revenue for local government, and if it goes any higher will it retard economic growth and industrial development?

Importance Quetioaed

Is the property tax important or unimportant in the overall public revenue picture?

A report issued by the governor's office this week based on official statistics says the property tax is relatively unimportant in North Carolina. It bases this statement on the fact that the states property tax levy is 44th in the nation and at IA|.82 per capita is less than half of the average of the U.S. as a whole, $132.81 per year.

The recent State Tax Study Cornmission concedes the statistics along with the fact that local governments in North Carolina are ilmoet entirely dependent upon the general property tax for revenue. -u .

It goes further to conclude that there is good reason for North Carolinas having a relatively less burdensome property tax than -most-other states ^d-good reason for slowing, halting or even reversing the trend, toward ever hi^er proparty tax levies.

Reasons Cited'

Numerous reasons are cited for the Study Cpmmiss-i(Mi's finding of a need for property tax reliefa need which it said varies from county to county and from town to town.

Statistically, however, the facts are that North Carolina property taxatiwi is relatively low. The average per capita property tax in the Southeastern states is $65.41 as against North Carolinas $38.62.

And another hard fact is that local governments are not likely to agree to roll back property taxes unless and until additional and even more adequate sources of local "revenues are made available.

In effect, the local governments want the legislat u re to do this. The Tax Study Commission suggests ways it might be done on a local option basis which is not what ttie loc^ joyernments want. ^ r

Presents Dilemma

Thus the 1969 legislature will be presented with a delemmawhat to do about the property tax situation?

It should be remembered that individual lawmakers are responsive to wishes of their local constuencies and their local governing boards in particular. It is a consenus of such local views which makes up a statewide attitude and position.

It follows that if aatisfactory legislation to open new local revenue aources is not forthcoming, many legislators will fall iMck on the statistics showing that property tax levies across North Carolina are relatively low and use the argument that in com-parision with other states they cannot be burdensome _nor unimportant.

Shifting Borden

It boils down to a matter both of increasing and shifting the tax burden and a question of which camel should bear the greater load.

The Tax Study Commission! raport concluded that the property tax presently if ai heavy a burden as it should be allowed to become and that, where possible, it should be rolled back.

It said this tax is difficult to administer uniformly and equitably and that it does not reflect ability to pay. It is slow In responding to economic an(Lother changes and, the Commission added, it Is already of such impact that It is hurting the states industrial development.

The Daily Reflector

4 ^ '

INCORPORATED

Ettabllshed 1883

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Published Monday Through Friday Attemoo^ and Sunday Morning

DAVID JULIAN WHICHARD, Chairman of the Board

X)HN 8. whk:hard-david J. whichard

PubHshers

Kavrred at PmI Offlca, GrcearlBe. N.C. as weaai daaa mall metier

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w'lT clioose to Tthpbse greater tax burdens to meet urgent needs, or to meet only thos needs for whicH the current tax structure will provHe.

It will be the responsibility of Governor Scott to recommend which of these paths" North Carolina will follow during the next four years.

North Carolina faces the need for better highways, particularly in the eastern and western areas of the state/Where highway development has been neglected by past administrations. North Carolina faces the problem of improving its public school system, continuing to build on the problem of quality education initiated almost a decade ago. North Carolina faces the problem of increasing per capita income in many of the underdeveloped counties of the state in order to raise the per capita income of the state as a whole and provide a broader base for the Vibrant, healthy economy of the state.

These are but a few of the problems which confront the new administration of Governor Bob Scott. They are not new, but they demand new ap-proaches'if practical, adequate solutions are to be found.

If G-overnor Scott Is to. provide the kind of leadership North Carolina needs for the next four years, he must present new ideas and new approaches to the old problems that confront the state. He must be willing to break with traditional methods of coping with the needs which too long have gone unmet. He must be willing to make decisions which will be controversial and may even be at odds with the majority opinion in the state.

It will not be an easy four years for Governor Scott or for the state. If the. challenges which face the state are met, however, it could be a most rewarding four years for he governor and the people.

ART BUCHWALD

The Best Stories Of '68

/he

Pay-Off In

OD-1 rainina

Advertlslag rttM and deadlloti avallAblt iipoe lequMS Member .Audit Bureau of CIreulatloo. '

By JUDI DANIEL

DALLAS (AP) Evaristo Sandoval traveled around the nation from one short-lived job to another a year ago, barely eking out an existence for his family.

Today Sandoval worries less about his own security and more about the pilots who fly the planes he inspects.

The Navy, is depending on us, he said. If the job is not done right a pilot could get killed.

Sandoval was one of many jobless Mexlcan-Amerlcans in the Lower Rio Grande Valley until a Dallas-based industry took a mobile classroom to him.

The company trained him and others, moved them with their families to Dallas and gave them a new way of life.

And what the labor mobility project did for Ling-Tem-co-Vought Aerospace Corp. is seen by company officials as highly profitable.

It added 684 skilled workers at a time when the unemployment rate in the Dallas metropolitan area had dropped to below two per cent Column after column of classifieTl^ds^begged for people to go to work.

What the project did for the people involved, though, is the ^ real success story.

The plight of the migrant laborer in' an increasingly mechanized wOrld suddenly brightened. Now, this group possesses steady jobs.

It is a better,way of life, Alicia DeLeon says of her new joband home. Jalicia and her. husband, Leon, both work at the plant and.recently purchased a new home. They know an independence they never experienced before. vThe project was a tremen

dous one in terms of he human element, said J. B. An-_drasko, directorjof LTVs industrial relations.

He admitted the company^, had some doubts about at-' tempting to relocate the Mexican - Americans from tiie valley a traditionally rural, close-knot and family-oriented people.

Would th^ be able to cope with cit ycongestion, homesickness for the quiet, peaceful valley and longing for parents, sisters, brothers, uncles, aunts and cousins who were part of their daily life?

In all, 2,184 people men, women and children bes-came part of the experimeni. Two hundred and sixty were school-age children.

The keys to the success of the program were understanding, excellent counseling and a keen determination on and their families to escape the part of the workers and their families to escape their environment ofunem-ployment, poverty and despair. said Andrasko

Teamed with federal and state agencies, LTV Aerospace Corp. established three schools in the valley.

The schools began in 1967 and .provided five weeks of training for IS men at a time.

They were traine- to be sheet metal assemblers. As they were graduated, the men were given permanent jobs at the Grand Prairie facility between Fort Worth and Dallas.

Of the 750 enrolled, 684 were graduated and relocated.

The corporation expected to lose 40 per cent of the trainees. They lost only 10 per cent and only 2 per cent of those returned to the valley. The other tooks other jobs in this area.

WASHINGTON - It is our .pleaaura to one* again print the best newi stories of the year. These re not necesai| tarily headline stories which you may have read, but rather newr items that were buried in the back pages of your paper which you probably missed.

WAILING WALL, Cal., Mar. 10Students at Wailing Wall State College marched on the administration yesterday afternoon, yelling for the resi-

^ation of Chancellor Win-throp Coldwater, and closing down of the school. After breaking windows and scuffling with the police, the students demanded to see Cold--vrater^-When -fee .4^ appeared he grabbed the microphone and said, Y ou should be ashamed of yourselves. I have a good mind to cancel the spring prom. The shocked students couldnt believe their ears. They publicly apologized to

Other Hditors Say Need Increasing Help

Strength For Today

(Washington Daily News)

North Carolina in rec a n t days has seen many reports from study commissiona made public. And it is good to have groups study our s t a te prdblems and caU attention to our needs.

North Carolinians need constantly to be reminded <rf our needs. Each study commission does a great service to the state in calling attention to needs and in making certain recommendatiems. We might not agree with the reports and with the propos e d answers, but the mere acts of calling attention to state problems is good and wholesome.

In recent years. North Carolina has made great strides in ever increasing help for mentally retarded peo p 1 e. But the job is far from complete. There are still many mental patients and mentally retarded individuals who are not getting the help they need.

When we are told that right here in Beaufort county there are a score <m* more of mentally retrded people who need to be getting hdp, then that very informatim causes us to stop and think.

In some cases it is not because the state is ^ fall i n g down in the acceptance of its responsibilities.' Often times It *'1 a case of the state being unable to hire the capable personnel needed.

The very fact that we have problema in no way s h o u Id mean that our state sho.uld stop trying. Indeed, it should

mean that we ought to p u t forth rowwed efforts. If there is a job to do, we ought to be making every effort to get it done well

Mentally retarded people must, by the very fact of their own infirmities, be dependent upon others to carry the ball for them. The mentally retarded have no lobbyists of their own; they have no political power^of their own, they have no finances of their own, they are totally dependent upon others for whatever help comes their way.

In recit years, legislatures have been very considerate of the mentally retarded program in our state. The next legislature probably will be equally responsive to needs. But one great fhctor involved is the seeming indifference of so many of our citizens who have never been touched with the tragedy,of loving someone who is not able to shift for himself because of mental illness.

Help for mentally retarded pMple should be an item of widespread public cone e r n. It must be tiiat way, and w# must set our goal as one wherein every mentally re-tared persons can be assured of adequate help quickly and efficiently.

We still have a big job to do in North Carolina. And we should never be satisfied until we can point with pride to what is being <kie and say to ourselves we are t r u ly taking care of all our mentally retarded citizens be they old or young.

Feud

blocks

?unds

the chancellor for their be-haviro and immediately rw-turned to their classes.

CHICAGO, in., Aug. n -Charles McPheraon was arrested for wearing nothing but # ^^et^oBg nag chigan Ave. last nl^ At a preliminary hearing bef(nre i magistrate, McPherson said that he had assaulted the ar-

AltT

BUCHWALD

resting officer fw no reason, and he wished to compliment the Chicago police force on the" way they handled bis arrest. He also wanted to cite the officers superiors for their kind treatment and concern when he was booked at the station house. Something like this. said McPherson, shaking hands with the police, could only happen in Chicago.

WASHINGTIN, D.C., Sept. 1Pentagon officials testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee said today that they had all the money they needed for defense purposes and would probably need no more funds lor the next fiscal year. A general with the Joint CTiiefs of Staff told the senators, Weve got all the appropriations we can handle now, and it would be foolish to spend more money on new weapons which pro-^bably wont work anyway. MIAMI, Fla., Oct. 12- A Boeing 707 on Its way frohi New York to Miami reported that a dark bearded man forced his way into the cockpit of fee plane. I suppose you want to go to (Juba? the captain said.

Heck no, the mari replied, they oversold the plane and they said I could sit up here with you guys. ATLANTA, Ga., Oct: 28 -William Washington, the first Negro admitted to the Atlanta Athletic Club, resigned today. Asked if his resignation had anything to do with prejudice against him. Wash-(CoBtinned Ob Page I)

-By

ROBERT NOVAK

WASHINGTON - A long-atanding, undercover dispute between the apparel industry and two union with powerful White House connections which have blocked Federal training funds for ghetto and other jobless worxers will soon surface in the new Nixon administration.

At issue is a^ highly di-eriminatory ban on the use of training funds forapparel workers under the Federal Manpower Development and Training Act (MDTA) first passed during the Kennedy administration.

Symbolic of the imion-im-posed ban la the way it came about. Tt was never written flatly into law. Instead, legislative history was made on the floor of the Senate and Houae just before the act passed in 1963, stating that it would not apply where minimil training is needed and where there exists a aubstantial number of able and experienced wor-ed. Only the appirel tedus-kers presently unemployed. Only the apparel industry fits that glovp.

This legislativs history* was repeated two yean later when the act was renewed. No hearings were ever held; the garment industry, in the interest of harmonious relations with two potent unions,.raised it.

Now, however, the industry daims it cannot fill some 25,000 jobs and wants the. use of MDTA funds to give on-the-job training to taardp core ghetto unemployed. Unable to crack the opposition of the unions (International Workers) the industry will seek aid from Presiden^^eet Nixons Labor Secreta r y, George Schultz.

What makes fiiis ban e atrange is that the apparel industi7 is the last major un-' automated industry with a capadty to hire workers in substantial numbers. It it thus thus peculiarly fitted for quidt, relatively easy training programs to move the uneducstel and unemployed poorincluding ghetto blacks into econmnic self-sufficiency.

That, in fact, is exactly what President Johnsons most talented non - govern-Leo Beebe, operating head of the National Alliance of Businessmen (set up under Henry Ford n to employ the gheU to poor) tried and failed to get the policy changed at a White House Cabinet meet-ed to intimates: This animal has a very long tail.

What Beebe apparently meant was tiiat the opposition of the two unions had maoe it impoeaible for him to get even a serious discussion of the issue. In fact, this comported with our own effort to find out from the Labor Department whether the two unions really have a good case.

I doift even have an opinion, Frank Border, a manpower expert, told us.

This unwillingnesa to discuss the ban oj^y can only result from the Johnson administrations refusal to anger the unions particularly the ILGWU. This it the union which runa and fioincea New York states Liberal Party, which has political tentaclea deep into the national Democratic party.

The reasons given by two unions for favoring the ban la fear that unscnipuloua

(CentfaiMd Oa Page f) *

THE HEAVENLY LIGHT

Christ referred to himself as the light of the world (John 6:1). He furthermore spoke of his disciples in the same terms. Ye are *he light of the world, he said (Matthew 5:14). At this season of the year when we were thinking of the coming of Christ, the symbol of IIgh t had been particularly prominent

What would the world have been, like had Christ never appeared among his fellow? If we can imagine his teachings bing removed from the worlds wisdom, bis presence from the hearts of men, we find ourselves surrounded by an impenetrable dark.i ess There wouW be notliing to lead us on day by day in the hope of achievement and peace.

We are overwhelmed at times with the paint'd realization that the wor:d in

which we livs is far from being a happy world. Sorrow, cuts acrosa its life evdry day. Hugs projects of 1911 arise and sweep like A mlgh*-ty scourgs across'human i ty. Life does not carry within it great promises of happiness unless there is :omething to justify that happiness, and it has been the experience of the human race that nothing has raised mankind from darkness into light, from sorrow into hope, from defeat into victory so much as the coming of Jesus Christ. 'This has been a season of carol-singing and the glad ringing of Christmas chimes. Something took place two thousand years ago which has made such a difference in human life that everything within us cries out in joy and exultation.

The light that strea m s acrass our pathway at t h i .s season is a heavenlv light.

By Earl L. Douglass

The Thieves Did Well Last Year

By ELMER ROESSNER

Shoplifters and pilf<^ers did better than owners and tax collectors in self-service department atores in their last fiscal year, andad Jan. 31. 1968, according to a Comtll Univtrsity study.

The study was of 46 companies operating more than 1,300 Stores.

In that year stork shortages, which include shoplifting, pilferage and other losses of goods, amounted to 2.65 per cent sales. The figure, based on retail value, do*s notjn-elude losses by leased departments.

Total earnings were 3.97 per cent before-income taxes. Of this, state and local gov-emmenta took 1.83 per cent, leaving stockholders 2.14 per cent.

However, while the Owners netted only 2.14 per cent of

sales, this amounted to 14.11 per cent on net worth. While this figure showed a decline !<* each of the four past years, down from 25.81 per cent in 1964, it is still a substantial gain on invesement. How Study Was Financed

The research, which was conducted by Associate Professor Earl Brown and Robert Day, research associate, was financed by a gr a n t from the Mass Merchandising Research Foundation.

The new results of the stores showed some improvements over the preceding year. That 2.66 per cent pilferage loss was do'wn fractionally from 2.7 per cent in 1966, but above the loss of .49 per cent in both 1965 and 1964.

The percentage of earmngs after taxes, 2.14 per cent, was a hefty gain, it naving been

1.77 per cent of sales in 1966, The percentage of .tamings after taxes, 2.14 per cent, was a hefty gain, It having been 1.77 per cit of sales in 1966, 1.75 per cent in 1965 and

OB88NER

1.68 per cent in 1964.

However, total sales compared with total assets were down. The6 were 3.66 per cent in 1966, 5.51 m 1965 and a fat 6.85 per cent in 1964. How The Monsy Wai

Whacked Tba study offari thaaa fig-ruea for aD atoras durvayed- ' Gross martin 31.89 percent Leased dept commissions

1.19

Groia income 23.(M

Total exp., inc intereft. 19.37 Net operating profit 1.67 Other income .30

Eamingt before income tax-es 1.83

Fed and atate ine. taxea 1.83 Net afttf taxes ' '2.14

Other highlighta of the atD-dy were:

Gross margins for aD firms were 29.04 per cent of owned sales.

Gross income lor aD firms was 2.77 per cent of total sales in 1967.

Figuras for the year and-ing Jan: IL 1908, wont be available for some time. But every indication is that they will be even better.